1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driver used with a display panel and a method of designing the same, and more particularly, to a single-sided driver used with a display panel and a method of designing the same, in which a single-sided panel driver circuit generates driving voltages required for both X and Y axes electrodes of the display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A plasma display panel (PDP) is a next-generation flat panel display device that uses plasma generated by gas discharging to display text or images. In a PDP, several hundreds of thousands to several millions of pixels, depending on the size of the PDP, are arranged in the form of matrices.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional alternating current (AC)-PDP sustain discharge circuit disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,349 to Webber, et al., issued Sep. 12, 1989. In the disclosure of the AC-PDP, it is assumed that a display panel is a kind of load having a panel capacitance Cp. The basic operation of a PDP driver circuit is set forth in the above patent to Webber, et al.
Sequences for driving the PDP are divided into a reset period, an address period, and a sustain period. The reset period is for eliminating a record of a display by discharging all cells as well as eliminating wall charges. The address period is for selecting cells to be discharged, and establishing address discharging in those cells, using combinations of row/column electrodes of the panel. The sustain period is for displaying images by repeatedly sustaining discharging and recovering energy only at cells that establish wall charges by the address discharging.
In the conventional art, in order to display images on the PDP, switching operations are determined based on an address display separation (ADS) method. In the PDP of FIG. 1, switches Ys, Yg, Xs, and Xg are used as sustain switches for applying high-frequency AC pulsed-voltage to the panel during the sustain period of the PDP, and switch pairs (Ys, Xg) and (Xs, Yg) are repeatedly turned on/off in turn during the sustain period. Switches Yr, Yf, Xr, and Xf are used in an energy recovery circuit to reduce energy consumption by preventing a rapid change in panel voltage and capacitive displacement current during the sustain period. Inductors Lx and Ly are used for energy recovery. Capacitors C_Yerc and C_Xerc and diodes D_Yr, D_Xf, D_Xr, D_Yf, D_YvsC and D_YGC are passive elements, which are required for the existing energy recovery circuit proposed by Webber, et al. Typically, a circuit containing the sustain switches, the energy recovery switches, and the passive elements all together is called a sustain driver circuit. The sustain driver circuit works in the sustain period of the PDP according to the ADS method. A switch Yp is used to separate a circuit operation for the sustain discharge period from other circuit operations, e.g., circuit operations for the address period and the reset period. Switches Yrr, Yfr and Xrr are used to supply a high ramp voltage to the panel during the reset period, and work with capacitors Cset and C_Xsink to supply voltage that is greater than a source voltage, during the reset period. Switches Ysc and Ysp are used during the address period in the ADS method. In the address period, the switch Ysp is turned on and the switch Ysc is turned off, and in other periods (the reset and sustain periods) their states are reversed. For the address period, a scan driver IC 100 consisting of a shift register and voltage buffers operates to supply a horizontal synchronous signal to the PDP screen, and during other periods, the scan driver IC 100 is shorted-circuited. The specific operation of the conventional PDP driver circuit according to switching order is set forth in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,349.
However, the conventional PDP driver system described above with reference to FIG. 1 has to use separate panel drivers for X-axis and for Y-axis electrodes of the PDP. Accordingly, a significant number of components are required, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost and the size of the PDP driver system.